Secret Assignment
by AmyAddict1
Summary: One-Shot: "She's always been writing in her notebooks for as long as I can remember. I wonder what it is that occupies her time so much." Entry for the October 2011 Writing Festival. Set in MFoMT


October 30, 2011

**Authoress Note:** This is my entry for the October 2011 Writing Festival in The Village Square. I've set this in More Friends of Mineral Town. I hope you all enjoy it. Best wishes to all other entrants! And I'm pretty sure this is the shortest one-shot I've ever written.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harvest Moon. They are the property of Natsume Inc. However, I did come up with this plot. ^_^

_**Secret Assignment**_

Ever since I could remember, she was always writing something in her various notebooks. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with her writing anything at all. I just wish I knew what it was she was writing. I'm curious to see the contents of her pages. But I'm much too shy to ask her what it is. Plus, I don't want to sound as if I'm trying to pry into her business. But I have to admit that my curiosity is starting to get the better of me. But I'm too much of a good friend to just take something and read it without permission.

I remember, when we were younger, I would go visit the library where she worked. After she set me up with a book I would like, she would take her place at her table, pull out her notebook, and just start writing. Sometimes, if I glanced over to her, I could see her mouth moving as she wrote. I was never able to tell what she was writing but I did know one thing: whatever it was seemed very important to her. I could see that she was seriously concentrating on her work. She always looked so cute as she concentrated with her round, thick, black glasses, which she constantly had to push up on her nose because they kept falling down as she held her head down.

When I finally got up the courage to ask her - and Basil, of course - to go out with me, I saw that she still kept writing in her notebook. And I don't just mean one notebook. After a while, she ran out of pages in one notebook and would therefore begin writing in another notebook. She apparently has many of them. Still, I never questioned her about it. I never asked her what she was writing and I never asked her to stop writing. I knew she thought of becoming an author one day so I was going to encourage her as much as possible. Besides, I enjoyed watching her write. She always looked so profound and diligent. I loved it.

As time went on, we continued to court each other and she continued to write. Eventually, much to Basil's dismay, I asked her to marry me. And to my pleasant surprise, she said yes. I was the happiest guy in all of Mineral Town. I was especially happy on our wedding day once Carter read the vows and officially pronounced us husband and wife. Again, Basil wasn't too happy but he soon accepted it and told me that he'd much rather I marry his daughter than some strange boy with no-good intentions. At least he knew I was a hard worker, something I could thank Grandpa Saibara for. He made sure to train me to never be lazy in my life, unless I wanted to die young or something.

Well even now, with two toddlers running around, she continues to write. Since she's been writing all this time, I am curious now more than ever to find out what it is. But what surprised me most of all: one night, after putting the kids to bed, I walked past the den when I heard her say, "It's finally finished after all this time." Now I imagined that she's referring to whatever she's been writing in her notebooks all these years. And since she made the announcement out loud, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to ask her about it.

"Mary," I said as I knocked on the wall to let her know I was there. She turned sharply, slightly startled.

"Oh, Gray! You startled me. How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long. I just put the girls to bed." She nodded at my statement then turned to gather her notebook together. It was at this time that I noticed that all the notebooks she been writing in all these years are all stacked on the table. I found this to be odd but didn't really worry myself with it. "So what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I heard you say, 'It's finished.' What were you talking about?"

She giggled, which I found to be very cute so I smiled slightly. "Oh, that. I was talking about this novel I've been writing."

"Oh. How long have you been writing it?"

"Ever since you and your grandfather moved into Mineral Town."

My curiosity was even more peaked after hearing that. She had been writing a novel for that long. How long does it take to write a novel?

"How long does it take to write a novel?"

"Well, if you have a clear plot in mind, it could take up to two years usually. But this particular novel I've been writing took much longer than that, as you can see."

"What is the novel about, if you don't mind me asking?"

She giggled again. Though it was cute as always, I wondered why she giggled after I asked the question. She turned to her stack of notebooks and looked through them, finding the one she was looking for and taking it in her hands. She walked over to me and held it up in my face for me to read. "My Blacksmith with a Shiny Hammer," I read aloud. I scratched my head for my first impression of it was not of something that would take more than 5 years to write. But she just smiled at me, as I looked the book over. I could even see a slight blush creeping across her face under her black glasses.

"You don't get what it's about, do you?" she asked me suddenly. I slowly shook my head as an embarrassed blush found its way across my face. She took the notebook from me and held it close to her chest. "It's our story. How we met, when you first started coming to the library, when you asked me out, when we got married - everything." She looked up at me with a smile. "It's the story of us, Gray."

I looked down at my beautiful wife and smiled, water actually beginning to form in my eyes. I took her in my arms and hugged her tight, embracing her like I've never embraced her before. This was another moment in my life where I felt I was truly at my happiest.

**~*~*~*~End~*~*~*~**

**Authoress note:** And that is the end of that. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it. And I wish the best for all other entrants in the Writing Festival.


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